Strengthening Women’s Leadership in a Post-Conflict Environment

The right and capacity of women to participate fully in their communities
is key to Kosovo’s democratic and economic development. While
women have begun to move into more leadership and entrepreneurial
positions within the province’s traditional society, their
continued empowerment requires additional efforts, especially in
rural areas. Access to real decision-making opportunities, especially
political office, governing institutions and political parties,
continues to elude women.

In response, Partners and Partners-Kosovo developed a Women’s
Leadership Program that sought to build Kosovar women’s capacity
in team building, communication, advocacy, and networking skills.
Partners-Kosovo targeted some of the province’s neediest municipalities
for participants, based on unemployment, severity of impact by war,
and relative involvement in civic life. The selected municipalities
included Lypian/Lipjan, Besiana/Podujeva, Therandë/Suhareka
and Drenas/Gllogovc. The Center then conducted numerous presentations
in schools and in women’s NGOs in these municipalities, resulting
in a plethora of applicants for the program.

Next, Partners and Partners-Kosovo designed a series of four skill-building
trainings in 2001 and 2002. The trainings included 20-25 women,
ranging from NGO activists to students to private sector employees,
and focused on providing communication, organizational development,
conflict management, and other skills necessary to succeed as social
change leaders in their organizations and communities. Partners
utilized experts from its Georgian and Polish Centers to conduct
the trainings and share their experiences from similar women’s
leadership initiatives in their own countries. The four trainings
provided skills in the following areas:

Organizational development, including facilitation, structure,
time management, and financial management

Following these trainings, the women returned to their home communities
and utilized their skills in a range of activities and educational
campaigns aimed at improving the status of women, combating domestic
violence and illiteracy, and promoting the right to education for
teenage girls. Highlights from these activities included:

The Podujeva participants, who are activists from an NGO called
Women in Action, conducted a series of lectures on women’s
issues in two high schools that included more than 870 students.
The group also gave a lecture series, “Against Domestic
Violence,” in cooperation with the Red Cross and World
Vision, and discussed their work on a radio program exclusively
for women at the local station “Vizioni.”

The Gllogovc group led a series of lectures in six villages,
entitled “The Right to Education,” targeting girls
with only a primary school education. 146 girls attended these
lectures, and the group planned to continue the series pending
additional funds.

The Lipjan participants organized a “Campaign for Education”
for approximately 95 illiterate women in six villages, who then
began to learn to read and write. Using their project design
skills from Partners’ training, the Lipjan group also
was able to raise funds for additional equipment for their NGO.

The Suhareka group utilized its skills to further a range of
entrepreneurial efforts, including securing new office furniture
and supplies from the Austrian KFOR and establishing a chicken
farm for women rural workers.

Participants from the NGO “Aureola” in Drenas shared
their skills and training materials with six primary school directors,
and collaborated with them on a “Campaign for Education”
that included 70 girls from six villages.

In addition, the participants developed a plan to meet regularly
every month to share information, discuss ideas for new projects,
and collaborate on future projects.

Building on its work and relationships from the training series,
Partners-Poland secured additional funds to bring many of the Kosovar
participants to Poland for a study tour. The women received additional
training, met with community leaders, and made site visits to relevant
organizations. This study tour was an unprecedented event in the
lives of most of the women, many of whom had never traveled beyond
their village, let alone to a foreign country. With the knowledge
gained from the study tour, the participants returned home to share
their skills with others, and to continue their work for women’s
education and against domestic violence in their communities. The
Kosovars learned invaluable lessons and models from their Polish
counterparts, benefiting from the knowledge and experience of another
transitioning country.

Please read about Partners Kosova and Fractal’s work on Kosovo Community Reconciliation and Development Program KCRDP, including the achieved results through implementation of mini grants in local communities, and the concrete outcomes & results of their work.

On January 18th, the Institute for Inclusive Security held its annual Policy Forum in Washington, DC, attended by Shukrije Gashi, Director of Partners Kosovo, and Nadwa Al-Dawsari, Director of Partners Yemen.